Tetrapod species–area relationships across the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2419052122
• Publication Date: 2025-03-25T17:37:55Z
• Authors: Roger Adam Close; Bouwe Rutger Reij...
• Keywords: Extinction (optical mineralogy); Paleogene

Mass extinctions are rare but catastrophic events that profoundly disrupt biodiversity. Widely accepted consequences of mass extinctions, such as biodiversity loss and the appearance temporary “disaster taxa,” imply species–area relationships (SARs, or how scales with area) should change dramatically across these events: Specifically, both slope (the rate accumulation new species increasing intercept density at local scales) power–law relationship decrease. However, hypotheses have not been tested, contribution variation in SAR to diversity dynamics deep time has neglected. We use fossil data quantify nested SARs North American terrestrial tetrapods through Cretaceous–Paleogene (K/Pg) extinction (Campanian–Ypresian). show vary substantially among groups. In pre-extinction interval (Maastrichtian), unusually shallow slopes (indicating low beta provinciality) drive total regional dinosaurs, mammals, other tetrapods. immediate postextinction (Danian), explosive diversification mammals drove high via a large increase higher provinciality), only limited intercept. This contradicts expectation biotas be regionally homogenized by spread disaster taxa impoverished loss. early was followed Thanetian–Selandian ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> </mml:math> 4.4. myr later) increases intercept, indicating did synchrony.